Saturday, August 20, 2011

A COOL APARTMENT


Kali turned me on to this film: "Science of Sleep." It's from 2006, I think. It's a terrific love story about two Parisian (sort of) artists who meet each other because they have apartments in the same building.

Anyway, the reason I'm posting about it is because some of the set designs are terrific. If you have a small apartment you could learn a lot about decorating it from this film. The girl in the story is a fabric artist so there's lots of niches for colorful yarn, and lots of interesting little sculptures and paintings.  It's a fun place for two young people to meet and hang out.  Click to enlarge.
  

That's a loft ladder on the left, which doubles as a book case. In the story the girl is building a loft bed, but in this picture it's not completed yet, so she sleeps on the floor. I could swear I saw that bed at IKEA a few years ago. 


Come to think of it, a lot of furniture in this room is IKEA derived. Those niches and shelves above the desk are definitely from there... 


...as are the end tables. The dark brown wall hanging might be fabric, but it also looks like a type of course art paper that you can buy in art stores. 


I like rooms like this one that invite you to sit on the floor. The rugs buckle easy, so I'm guessing they're from IKEA, too.


The film neglects this wall (above), maybe because the designer didn't know what to do with it. 


That's (above) the loft bed fully built and ready for use. This picture is from a dream sequence, so it's in a cave. 


I thought I'd focus on a few interesting details. How do you like the iron work (above) on the window? You can buy iron things like that that cheaper than you might think. I drew a version of it on acetate for one of my my kid's windows,  but it got mangled before I could put it up. 


There's the carpets (above) again. IKEA has great deals on stuff like this. 


Cotton clouds on the ceiling! Neat, huh!? I like the shadows the clouds throw.


Last but not least, a white on black, Matisse-style wall hanging. 



4 comments:

ardy said...

I don't know... It's a little too cool for me. I'm a fan of the "less is more" theory on interior decorating I guess. I'm not much for interior decorating though.

The only thing that really ever sparked my interest was the difference between city homes and suburban/rural homes. A city apartment is usually furnished to feel roomier while a suburban/rural home usually is furnished to feel cozier. Obviously, apartments generally being smaller factors into this, but I feel like it's more about city life vs. non-city life. When you live in a place with a dense population it can feel confining sometimes. You want to go home to a more spacious environment. Even bigger lofts are made to feel roomy in cities. I guess this movie might poke a hole in my theory though.

Oh, and this girl.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Ardy: Wow! A fascinating video! It got over three million hits!

I'd rather live a tiny apartment in an interesting part of town than a big apartment in a slum. The girl in the video had the right idea.

I like your city/ country analysis.

Nicholas John Pozega said...

Wow, that would be a cool house to live in! I also love those clouds on the cieling!

By the way Eddie, i just finished a new post on my favorite Oswald Rabbit cartoon, "Hells Heels". Check it out, i think you'll like it!

http://classiccartoonreviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-favorite-oswald-rabbit-cartoon-hells.html

Severin said...

I live in a small but woefully unfurnished apartment. When I moved to CA over a year ago for an internship, I decided to leave all my possessions behind, pack light, so that the trip would be easier. The idea was that if I earned a job I would stay in Burbank and bring up the rest of my stuff, whereas if I went without employment I would just return to my home state of SC.

Well, upon arriving the reality dawned on me that any future in animation would have to happen in California. Ninety percent of the industry is right here, and that's that. So I stayed. However, I never found work. So I've been caught in limbo, and my apartment is a reflection of that. I keep practicing in hopes that my career will take off. Meanwhile, my living space continues to be an explosion of drawings and art supplies and furniture dragged in from the street.

When I DO get that long-sought-after job, though, you bet I'll be spending all my money at IKEA.